No answer.
She twirled to find him gone. A quick flash of a leg showed he’d stepped into the bathroom. The water turned on and she paced over to peek inside. “Mark, what—?”
He stood fully clothed under the shower, his head resting against the tiles. “Yes?”
Okay, that was a little strange. She supposed that was one way to get the wrinkles out of slept-in clothing. “Umm, when you’re done. No rush.”
She tiptoed out, trying not to disturb him.
After all, he’d had a hard night.
Mark was going to die. No, dying would be the simple solution. A lack of oxygen to his body would mean blood would stop rushing through his veins. It would mean his cock would stop turning into a heat-seeking missile as far as Tessa was concerned.
He’d been so careful last night, maintaining boundaries that would give her space. And this morning, trying to act normal, like he would around any other shifter he wasn’t itching to get intimate with.
The whole shifter lack of shyness had backfired in a big way. He now knew from a very up-close-and-personal glance the following details: his mate was a natural blonde. She had freckles. She was more than a mouthful.
He turned the water temperature down a notch hoping to quench a few of the internal fires, but it was little use. He was hard. Capital H hard and staying that way.
The only way to survive this crazy situation was going to be exhausting labour. If he was too tired to get it up, he might endure the coming weeks.
He pulled himself from the shower and dressed, no sign of his adorably hyper cat anywhere. Well, at least not until he walked into his kitchen. The disaster area proved what the earlier cup of coffee had hinted at. If he didn’t want to be poisoned, he needed to ban her from cooking.
Which was fine. He liked to cook. Mark pulled the coffee maker forward and grimaced at the sight of ground fava beans in the hopper. His disgust switched to amusement when he spotted the cereal she’d left for him on the table. Her bowl was used and empty, his all ready for the milk to be poured. What made it extraordinary was she’d folded a napkin into the shape of a swan and left it waiting for him.
Mark ate quickly, threw out the multiple cups of loathsome not coffee liquid and loaded the dishwasher. Then he went looking for his mate.
He found her on the main floor, surrounded by papers. Mark stood silently observing as she skimmed a pencil over the notepad, her fingers flying across the page. She tore off the top piece of paper and added it to a pile on her right.
“You going to stand there all morning?” Tessa smiled at him.
He paced over to stare down at her chaos. “You’ve been busy.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry about the mess upstairs. I’ll clean it up before lunch, but I had an inspiration for the layout down here and wanted to get it on paper before I lost my train of thought.”
Mark resisted making any smart-ass comments about trains running amuck through the house, instead squatting to examine the top page of a pile. The details of the drawing shocked him. “Holy cow, Tessa. Did you do these all this morning?”
She nodded, shifting her weight as she pointed in a circle. “Design plans for main floor and second floor. Slight modifications to the third, just a few things to make it easier for a B&B setup. I hope you don’t mind.”
He was too stunned to be upset. They weren’t just bubble diagrams, with rough “bathroom goes here” type notes, but full-out plans with measurements and everything. Mark shuffled through the fourth pile resting at his feet. “These are furniture designs.”
“For the guest rooms. That stack is for the couple rooms, the next for the dorms. I wanted to see what you thought before planning for family rooms. You want to have kids around the place, or not?”
Mark ignored her question for a moment as he lowered himself to the floor. “How on earth did you do all this so fast?” He gawked at the pages. “Plus, you’re spot-on accurate. You’ve got measurements for the rooms—where are you hiding your measuring tape?”
“It’s built in.” She grinned and tapped her temple. “I can eyeball a room and know the dimensions at a glance. It’s not a very handy skill except when it comes to designing. Or parking… I can parallel park in spaces that would make your hair stand on end.”
Holy shit. He set down the stack and went for the next one, again amazed at the details and simple beauty of what she suggested. “I think your ideas are brilliant. You accomplished enough in an hour to keep me busy for the next four months.”
“I’ll help,” Tessa offered. “I can swing a hammer, and I don’t mind getting dirty.”
Mark exchanged the drawings for her hands, holding her tight. “I’m…impressed. And pleased.”
Tessa beamed. And wiggled.
He examined her more closely, trying to figure out how she was moving in such a strange way. “Tessa, what are you sitting on?”
“A balance board. Gives my body something to concentrate on while I’m doing things with my hands. Keri came up with the idea when we were in college. She’s my bestie. You know her? Of course you do, she mated with Jared in July. I think she said she’d be back in the fall.”
“I’ve met her.” Well, a point in his favour—his mate already had a friend in the pack. “We can meet up with her and Jared, if they’re around. Why don’t you call to find out?”
She shot to her feet, somehow continuing to balance on the tippy wooden plank as she dragged him upright with her. “I’d like that very much. You’re so sweet.”
Mark untangled himself to gather her work piles together. “We’ll do a walk-through on these ideas after you get in touch with them.”
“That would be great. Hey, you never told me what you prefer—family rooms or no?”
He’d been avoiding thinking about it, because the answer was all tangled together in his brain. The image of little kids running through the house led to thinking about their kids someday running through the house. Which led to images of Tessa being pregnant, which backtracked to full-colour, live-action feature-film-quality high-def sex scenes, starring her and him.
Although he was pretty sure porn would have nothing on the actual event. Not with them being mates.
Some time in the last minute he’d moved in closer, again, and when she squirmed on the board, her torso brushed his intimately. Mark swallowed hard. Ignored the instant response of his body. Forced the words out. “Kids are okay.”
Tessa leapt into the air, wrapping her arms and legs around him. He dropped the papers to catch her, hands cradling her ass as she leaned forward until her lips pressed to his. He sucked in her taste like a starving man.
She rested their foreheads together, a contented smile lighting her face. “I think I like you.”
“Well, that’s good.” Nothing was going to distract him from enjoying the temporary warmth of their bodies touching. He added a few more items to the list of what he knew about her. Impulsive, but talented. Athletic.
“I think we can accomplish some great things together,” she announced. “We’ll make an awesome team.”
“A team?” He wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity. “More than that, Tessa. We’re mates. Our skills complement each other.”
Her eyes went wide and she nodded slowly. “Cool. And you do like kids.”
“I like you.” It was enough for now.
She didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get away, so he took total advantage and kissed her again. Nibbled on her lower lip as she hummed happily and tangled her fingers in his hair. Her mouth was so soft under his, her wonderful scent whispering through his entire body and somehow increasing his tension even as it satisfied him.